Excessive hugging, limited learning

Main menu

Post navigation

Oslo

We went to Oslo for a long weekend. We nearly didn’t make the flight due to the motorway being closed then some idiot nearly crashing into me. However, after a mad rush through the airport we made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare. Annoyingly the flight was delayed by 45 minutes so we didn’t need to rush!

We landed in a snowy Oslo and after we went through passport control they had sneakily made us walk through a duty free shop before we passed customs. I got myself some tasty Norwegian bottles and a six pack of Aass (mainly due to it’s funny name). Once done with booze shopping we found a bus that took us to a train-station and waited in the snow.

The train journey to Oslo was about an hour, but the train was nice. We arrived in Central Station and walked to the hotel in the snow. Our hotel wasn’t too far away, but the walk in the snow was tough. We checked in, made it to our room, freshened up/drank a can of Aass. We then went for a walk in the snow to get our bearings and get some food!

Snowy view from room

It was late by the time dinner was finished, so had a another wee walk to get our bearings before we went back to the hotel, drank some beers and decided what to do the next day in snowy Oslo.

SaturdayWhen we woke up all the snow was gone!

No Snow!!

We knew food was dear in Oslo so made the most of our free hotel breakfast. After breakfast we walked to central station to find the tourist information place and get the Oslo Pass – it was 620NOK each for a 72 hour pass, and meant we got unlimited public transport use and free entry to a few places.

We jumped on a tram but had to get off soon because of road works, ended up walking down towards the Nobel Peace building and jumped on a #30 bus towards the Viking Museum.

Nobel Building

It was usually 80NOK in – but we got in free because of the Oslo pass. Which is just as well as there wasn’t that big – just one big room so to speak. Still, what they had looked good.

Viking Museum

We jumped onto another #30 bus and got off beside a couple of museums. First one we went into was the Fram museum – which was quite good. Once again we got in free with our Oslo Pass (100NOK usually) but there was alot to see and do!

We sat outside for a bit to get some air before going into the Maritime Museum. Usually 80NOK – we got in free with our Oslo pass. If you really like boats and what not you’d love the museum … I’m quite indifferent to boats. After a few hours of going to museums we were quite museumed out, so we gave the Kon-Tiki Museum a miss – we jumped onto the next #30 bus back into town.

Once back in town we decided to get a bite to eat. We had seen good reviews for Freddy Feuego’s burrito place online, and it was also recommended by a friend of a friend so we jumped on a tram and headed there. We found the place and it had a lucha theme that was pretty cool. I had a beef burrito. Asked for the hot salsa and the server recommended I try it before getting it. He gave me a nacho with salsa and it blew my head off!! However, I couldn’t give up now so coughed and sheepishly said “sure, it’ll be fine when it’s all mixed together”. I was right – but it was still hot! Leona had a chicken burrito with mild salsa. After I finished mine, I had half of hers to use a cooling agent!

A guy from Dublin was working there (possibly the owner?) and served us some much needed water. We were chatting for a few minutes about burritos, Boojum and what not. Nice lad!

We explored that area and went to find a tram, but instead of waiting we found a bar called Qadis and had a few drinks. It had a good selection of beer – I even had some Sierra Nevada stout which was bloody delicious!! After a few drinks we got the tram back towards our hotel.

We freshened up and then headed out again. There was a bar around the corner called The Dubliner which we were going to go for one or two and then get dinner. It was busy and couldn’t get a seat but noticed a bar next door called ‘The Whiskey Bar’ (which was part of the same complex) and found a seat in there. It had a good selection of beer and I got into that bad habit of trying beer I haven’t had before. We didn’t go for dinner in the end and stayed where we were!

Whiskey bottles

I was going to have a cheeky whiskey before we went back to the hotel (due to the name of the bar!) but I’m glad I didn’t (I was blocked)!

Sunday
Awoke with a bit of a hangover. Managed to get up before breakfast finished and we went to find a Starbucks so Leona can pick up some Mugs for her collection. We knew there was one in Oslo City but when we got there we realised it was closed on a Sunday! We had to Google another one and noticed there was another 400m away so walked there and I had a sugary Caramel Macchiato to try and stem my hangover!

We got a tram back to Oslo City and jumped on a T-Bane to Tøyen so we could go to the Munch Museum. Free with the Oslo pass, it was usually 100NOK in. It was very heavy security wise – i.e. bags had to be left in lockers and you were x-rayed / had to go through a metal detector before you went in. Though it’s also understandable bearing in mind previous form.

There was an exhibition called Mapplethorpe + Munch on when we were there where they would compare the two. Portraits and the like. Then it moved onto nudes and such, fair enough (there was a lot of ‘Thomas’), and a wee bit of x-rated stuff. I’m as liberal minded as the next guy but an anal fisting photograph on a Sunday morning, when hungover, was an unexpected shock!

A quick… Munch.. ahahaha

I think we took a wrong turn and ended up back in the lobby, and the queue through security was really long at this point, so I didn’t see all of the Munch collection, which was a shame. I had another coffee, and a cookie, to keep the hangover under control!

After the Munch museum we jump on the T-Bane back into town and then got back on to the #30 bus to the Folk Museum. Normally 125NOK, but we got in with our Oslo pass. It was mainly outside and the rain was heavy so that was grim. I also slipped on ice and landed on my back which was painful. After we were done in the rain I got a slice of savoury pie to cheer me up.

We headed back to the hotel to get freshened up, drink airport purchased prosseco and decide where we wanted to go to dinner. After much deliberation googling we decided on a place called O‘Learys. It was great and very tasty! After dinner we walked down to the Hard Rock Cafe down the street and contemplated watching the Super Bowl, but we were on GMT+1 so couldn’t be bothered staying up so went back to the hotel an hour or so before it started.

Monday

After breakfast we went down to the docks to go on a fjord cruise, sadly it started raining heavily and got I saturated. It was miserable and I was in no mood for fjords. After a while we gave up and went into the cabin to drink hot chocolate and warm up. I didn’t get to see much fjord action. We then returned to the hotel to shower/prevent hypothermia.

Miserable in the rain!

After showering and preventing hypothermia we got changed into some ‘ski’ gear (I just had trousers) we packed so we could go Tobogganing. First we got some lunch in a Scandinavian burger chain called Max Burger – which was bloody tasty! – and got the metro from Storinget which was right outside! We jumped on Line 1 all the way to the end and got off at Frognerseteren.

As we climbed the mountain the snow got heavier, which was crazy as we were only a few miles outside Oslo. We reached the metro station and had to go downhill again, which was dodgy in the snow, and found a place were we could hire sledges. Something like 250NOK, which was okay and they threw in helmets and goggles for free!

We eventually managed to find the start line. Leona volunteered me to go first, so I did. I instinctively steered with my feet which inevitably got my socks wet! You picked up some speed, which at the time felt very fast, but when I watched it back on the Go Pro it seemed very tame. Though at times you got perilously close to the edge, where at one side would be a drop, the other side wall!

Some times the course leveled out or had some bumps so the sled ground to a halt. So when that happened I would wait on Leona to catch up, then we would take off again.

Go Pro injury

At one point I was gaining a bit of speed as the snow was wetter. I tried to take off a bit of speed/take a corner by digging my heel into the snow but the slush went up my trouser leg, I then hit a bump, got a few inches of air and landed in a particularly slushy puddle and got very cold and wet.

Leona coming down the hill

Leona crashing into a wall.. seconds later

When I got to the bottom of the run I fell and landed on my knee, it didn’t seem to bad at the time so we got the train back up the mountain for another run. It was getting dark so after that run we returned the toboggans – we regretted not blowing off the fjords and doing this all day! There were still people using the course after we left (it was pitch black at this point!). My knee was a bit sore by this point.

We returned to the hotel for another shower/change of clothes. Then headed to town to pick up some presents, obligatory Mug for my mother, Fridge magnet for my granny etc then got some Pizza. We had some beers in the hotel and an early night as we had to get up early for the train to the airport.